The subject matter disclosed herein relates to detecting objects in a terrain, and in particular to controlling a sensor that detects objects in the terrain.
Search and rescue systems utilize aircraft to find objects, such as people, animals or vehicles on terrain, which may include the ground (earth) or water, such as oceans, seas, lakes, etc. The aircraft include sensors, such as infrared sensors or cameras to search the terrain. Conventionally, a human pilot controls the aircraft or pre-planned search patterns are used, such as parallel line patterns, concentric circles, squares or other shapes, creeping line patterns, etc. A human operator controls the sensor as the aircraft follows its flight path in an attempt to locate the target in the terrain. However, it is difficult for a human operator to recognize any particular location on the terrain as having a higher likelihood of detecting the target than any other location on the terrain. As a result, the sensor searches the terrain in an inefficient manner, by searching areas with a low likelihood of detecting the target with the same frequency as areas with a high likelihood of detecting the target.